Neural top–down control of physiology concerns the direct regulation by the brain of emotional and physiological functions. Cellular functions include the immune system’s production of T-lymphocytes and antibodies, and nonimmune related homeostatic functions such as liver gluconeogenesis, sodium reabsorption, osmoregulation, and brown adipose tissue nonshivering thermogenesis.More at Wikipedia
Chiesa, A., Serretti, A., & Jakobsen, J. C.. (2013). Mindfulness: Top-down or bottom-up emotion regulation strategy?. Clinical Psychology Review
McRae, K., Misra, S., Prasad, A. K., Pereira, S. C., & Gross, J. J.. (2012). Bottom-up and top-down emotion generation: Implications for emotion regulation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
“Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in adaptive functioning and mounting evidence suggests that some emotion regulation strategies are often more effective than others. however, little attention has been paid to the different ways emotions can be generated: from the ‘bottom-up’ (in response to inherently emotional perceptual properties of the stimulus) or ‘top-down’ (in response to cognitive evaluations). based on a process priming principle, we hypothesized that mode of emotion generation would interact with subsequent emotion regulation. specifically, we predicted that top-down emotions would be more successfully regulated by a top-down regulation strategy than bottom-up emotions. to test this hypothesis, we induced bottom-up and top-down emotions, and asked participants to decrease the negative impact of these emotions using cognitive reappraisal. we observed the predicted interaction between generation and regulation in two measures of emotional responding. as measured by self-reported affect, cognitive reappraisal was more successful on top-down generated emotions than bottom-up generated emotions. neurally, reappraisal of bottom-up generated emotions resulted in a paradoxical increase of amygdala activity. this interaction between mode of emotion generation and subsequent regulation should be taken into account when comparing of the efficacy of different types of emotion regulation, as well as when reappraisal is used to treat different types of clinical disorders.”
Terhune, D. B., Cleeremans, A., Raz, A., & Lynn, S. J.. (2017). Hypnosis and top-down regulation of consciousness. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
“Hypnosis is a unique form of top-down regulation in which verbal suggestions are capable of eliciting pronounced changes in a multitude of psychological phenomena. hypnotic suggestion has been widely used both as a technique for studying basic science questions regarding human consciousness but also as a method for targeting a range of symptoms within a therapeutic context. here we provide a synthesis of current knowledge regarding the characteristics and neurocognitive mechanisms of hypnosis. we review evidence from cognitive neuroscience, experimental psychopathology, and clinical psychology regarding the utility of hypnosis as an experimental method for modulating consciousness, as a model for studying healthy and pathological cognition, and as a therapeutic vehicle. we also highlight the relations between hypnosis and other psychological phenomena, including the broader domain of suggestion and suggestibility, and conclude by identifying the most salient challenges confronting the nascent cognitive neuroscience of hypnosis and outlining future directions for research on hypnosis and suggestion.”
Zelazo, P. D., & Carlson, S. M.. (2012). Hot and Cool Executive Function in Childhood and Adolescence: Development and Plasticity. Child Development Perspectives
“Executive function (ef), which refers to the more deliberate, top-down neurocognitive processes involved in self-regulation, develops most rapidly during the preschool years, together with the growth of neural networks involving prefrontal cortex but continues to develop well into adulthood. both ef and the neural systems supporting ef vary as a function of motivational significance, and this article discusses the distinction between the top-down processes that operate in motivationally and emotionally significant situations (‘hot ef’) and the top-down processes that operate is more affectively neutral contexts (‘cool ef’). emerging evidence indicates that both hot and cool ef are surprisingly malleable, with implications for intervention and prevention.”
Johnstone, T., van Reekum, C. M., Urry, H. L., Kalin, N. H., & Davidson, R. J.. (2007). Failure to Regulate: Counterproductive Recruitment of Top-Down Prefrontal-Subcortical Circuitry in Major Depression. Journal of Neuroscience
“Although depressed mood is a normal occurrence in response to adversity in all individuals, what distinguishes those who are vulnerable to major depressive disorder (mdd) is their inability to effectively regulate negative mood when it arises. investigating the neural underpinnings of adaptive emotion regulation and the extent to which such processes are compromised in mdd may be helpful in understanding the pathophysiology of depression. we report results from a functional magnetic resonance imaging study demonstrating left-lateralized activation in the prefrontal cortex (pfc) when downregulating negative affect in nondepressed individuals, whereas depressed individuals showed bilateral pfc activation. furthermore, during an effortful affective reappraisal task, nondepressed individuals showed an inverse relationship between activation in left ventrolateral pfc and the amygdala that is mediated by the ventromedial pfc (vmpfc). no such relationship was found for depressed individuals, who instead show a positive association between vmpfc and amygdala. pupil dilation data suggest that those depressed patients who expend more effort to reappraise negative stimuli are characterized by accentuated activation in the amygdala, insula, and thalamus, whereas nondepressed individuals exhibit the opposite pattern. these findings indicate that a key feature underlying the pathophysiology of major depression is the counterproductive engagement of right prefrontal cortex and the lack of engagement of left lateral-ventromedial prefrontal circuitry important for the downregulation of amygdala responses to negative stimuli.”
Heatherton, T. F., & Wagner, D. D.. (2011). Cognitive neuroscience of self-regulation failure. Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Holzman, J. B., & Bridgett, D. J.. (2017). Heart rate variability indices as bio-markers of top-downself-regulatory mechanisms: A meta-analytic review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
“Theoretical perspectives posit that heart-rate variability (hrv) reflects self-regulatory capacity and therefore can be employed as a bio-marker of top-downself-regulation (the ability to regulate behavioral, cognitive, and emotional processes). however, existing findings of relations between self-regulation and hrv indices are mixed. to clarify the nature of such relations, we conducted a meta-analysis of 123 studies (n = 14,347) reporting relations between hrv indices and aspects of top-downself-regulation (e.g., executive functioning, emotion regulation, effortful control). a significant, albeit small, effect was observed (r = 0.09) such that greater hrv was related to better top-downself-regulation. differences in relations were negligible across aspects of self-regulation, self-regulation measurement methods, hrv computational techniques, at-risk compared with healthy samples, and the context of hrv measurement. stronger relations were observed in older relative to younger samples and in published compared to unpublished studies. these findings generally support the notion that hrv indices can tentatively be employed as bio-markers of top-downself-regulation. conceptual and theoretical implications, and critical gaps in current knowledge to be addressed by future work, are discussed.”
Kerr, C. E., Sacchet, M. D., Lazar, S. W., Moore, C. I., & Jones, S. R.. (2013). Mindfulness starts with the body: somatosensory attention and top-down modulation of cortical alpha rhythms in mindfulness meditation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
“Using a common set of mindfulness exercises, mindfulness based stress reduction (mbsr) and mindfulness based cognitive therapy (mbct) have been shown to reduce distress in chronic pain and decrease risk of depression relapse. these standardized mindfulness (st-mindfulness) practices predominantly require attending to breath and body sensations. here, we offer a novel view of st-mindfulness’s somatic focus as a form of training for optimizing attentional modulation of 7-14 hz alpha rhythms that play a key role in filtering inputs to primary sensory neocortex and organizing the flow of sensory information in the brain. in support of the framework, we describe our previous finding that st-mindfulness enhanced attentional regulation of alpha in primary somatosensory cortex (si). the framework allows us to make several predictions. in chronic pain, we predict somatic attention in st-mindfulness ‘de-biases’ alpha in si, freeing up pain-focused attentional resources. in depression relapse, we predict st-mindfulness’s somatic attention competes with internally focused rumination, as internally focused cognitive processes (including working memory) rely on alpha filtering of sensory input. our computational model predicts st-mindfulness enhances top-down modulation of alpha by facilitating precise alterations in timing and efficacy of si thalamocortical inputs. we conclude by considering how the framework aligns with buddhist teachings that mindfulness starts with ‘mindfulness of the body.’ translating this theory into neurophysiology, we hypothesize that with its somatic focus, mindfulness’ top-down alpha rhythm modulation in si enhances gain control which, in turn, sensitizes practitioners to better detect and regulate when the mind wanders from its somatic focus. this enhanced regulation of somatic mind-wandering may be an important early stage of mindfulness training that leads to enhanced cognitive regulation and metacognition.”
Wagner, D. D., Altman, M., Boswell, R. G., Kelley, W. M., & Heatherton, T. F.. (2013). Self-Regulatory Depletion Enhances Neural Responses to Rewards and Impairs Top-Down Control. Psychological Science
“To be successful at self-regulation, individuals must be able to resist impulses and desires. the strength model of self-regulation suggests that when self-regulatory capacity is depleted, self-control deficits result from a failure to engage top-down control mechanisms. using functional neuroimaging, we examined changes in brain activity in response to viewing desirable foods among 31 chronic dieters, half of whom completed a task known to result in self-regulatory depletion. compared with nondepleted dieters, depleted dieters exhibited greater food-cue-related activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, a brain area associated with coding the reward value and liking aspects of desirable foods; they also showed decreased functional connectivity between this area and the inferior frontal gyrus, a region commonly implicated in self-control. these findings suggest that self-regulatory depletion provokes self-control failure by reducing connectivity between brain regions that are involved in cognitive control and those that represent rewards, thereby decreasing the capacity to resist temptations.”
Phillips, A. G., Vacca, G., & Ahn, S.. (2008). A top-down perspective on dopamine, motivation and memory. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior
“A train of action potentials (a spike train) can carry information in both the average firing rate and the pattern of spikes in the train. but can such a spike-pattern code be supported by cortical circuits? neurons in vitro produce a spike pattern in response to the injection of a fluctuating current. however, corticalneurons in vivo are modulated by local oscillatory neuronal activity and by top-down inputs. in a cortical circuit, precise spike patterns thus reflect the interaction between internally generated activity and sensory information encoded by input spike trains. we review the evidence for precise and reliable spike timing in the cortex and discuss its computational role.”
In social psychology, terror management theory (abbr. TMT) proposes a basic psychological conflict that results from having a self-preservation instinct, whilst realizing that death is inevitable and to some extent unpredictable. Researchers in the field of “experimental existential psychology” (XXP) investigate the effects of, for example, mortality salience on various social, emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes. More at Wikipedia
Further References
Greenberg, J., & Arndt, J.. (2012). Terror management theory. In Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology: Volume 1
“Terror management theory was developed to explain the motivational underpinnings of phenomena such as self-esteem defense and prejudice. the theory is rooted in a long tradition of thought regarding human awareness of death and its role in psychological functioning. the theory posits that to manage the potential for terror engendered by the awareness of mortaility, humans sustain faith in worldviews which provide a sense that they are significant beings in an enduring, meaningful world rather than mere material animals fated only to obliteration upon death. the theory is supported by a wide range of studies showing that self-esteem and worldviews provide protection against anxiety and death-related cognition, reminders of mortality instigate worldview bolstering and self-esteem striving, and the threats to the worldview and self-esteem increase the accessibility of death-related thoughts. the research has also led to a dual defense model of responses to concious and unconcious death thoughts. we then focus on two of many topics informed by the theory; attitudes and behavior regarding physical health, an political preferences and intergroup conflict. we then consider factors that mitigate destructive forms of terror management. finally, we briefly summarize the contribution of terror management work so far and where it’s heading.”
Harmon-Jones, E., Simon, L., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., Pyszczynski, T., & McGregor, H.. (1997). Terror Management Theory and Self-Esteem: Evidence That Increased Self-Esteem Reduces Mortality Salience Effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“On the basis of the terror management theory proposition that self-esteem provides protection against concerns about mortality, it was hypothesized that self-esteem would reduce the worldview defense produced by mortality salience (ms). the results of experiments 1 and 2 confirmed this hypothesis by showing that individuals with high self-esteem (manipulated in experiment 1; dispositional in experiment 2) did not respond to ms with increased worldview defense, whereas individuals with moderate self-esteem did. the results of experiment 3 suggested that the effects of the first 2 experiments may have occurred because high self-esteem facilitates the suppression of death con-structs following ms. the questions of why individuals need self-esteem and how they cope with their awareness of death are challenging ones that have fascinated and puzzled philosophers and social theo-rists (e.g., plato, kierkegaard, norman brown, william james) for centuries. terror management theory, based primarily on the writings of ernest becker (1962, 1971, 1973, 1975) and otto rank (1936, 1941), posits that self-esteem is sought because it provides protection against the fear of death (greenberg, pysz-czynski, & solomon, 1986; solomon, greenberg, & pyszczyn-ski, 1991a). from this perspective, the fear of death is rooted in an instinct for self-preservation that humans share with other species. although we share this instinct with other species, only we are aware that death is inevitable–that is, that our self-preservation instinct will inevitably be thwarted. this combina-tion of an instinctive drive for self-preservation with an aware-ness of the inevitability of death creates the potential for paralyz-ing terror. this potential for terror is managed by a cultural anxiety buffer, consisting of the cultural worldview and self-esteem. the cultural worldview is defined as a set of beliefs about the nature”
Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T.. (1997). Terror Management Theory of Self-Esteem and Cultural Worldviews: Empirical Assessments and Conceptual Refinements. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
“This chapter proposes that the potential for abject terror created by the awareness of the inevitability of death in an animal instinctively programmed for self-preservation and continued experience lies at the root of a great deal of human motivation and behavior. this chapter presents the results of a substantial body of research that attests to the broad influence of the problem of death on human social behavior and illuminates the processes through which concerns about mortality exert their influence. the chapter overviews the primary assumptions and propositions of terror management theory and a description of the initial research conducted to test the theory. it presents a detailed consideration of more recent research that establishes the convergent and discriminant validity of the mortality salience treatment and the robustness of its effects through the use of alternative mortality salience treatments and comparison treatments, and replications by other researchers; it extends the range of interpersonal behaviors that are demonstrably influenced by terror management concerns. moreover, it demonstrates the interaction of mortality salience with other theoretically relevant situational and dispositional variables, and provides an account of the cognitive processes through which mortality salience produces its effects. finally, this chapter discusses the relation of terror management motives to other psychological motives and gives a consideration of issues requiring further investigation.”
Burke, B. L., Martens, A., & Faucher, E. H.. (2010). Two decades of terror management theory: A meta-analysis of mortality salience research. Personality and Social Psychology Review
“A meta-analysis was conducted on empirical trials investigating the mortality salience (ms) hypothesis of terror management theory (tmt). tmt postulates that investment in cultural worldviews and self-esteem serves to buffer the potential for death anxiety; the ms hypothesis states that, as a consequence, accessibility of death-related thought (ms) should instigate increased worldview and self-esteem defense and striving. overall, 164 articles with 277 experiments were included. ms yielded moderate effects (r =.35) on a range of worldview- and self-esteem-related dependent variables (dvs), with effects increased for experiments using (a) american participants,(b) college students,(c) a longer delay between ms and the dv,and (d) people-related attitudes as the dv. gender and self-esteem may moderate ms effects differently than previously thought. results are compared to other reviews and examined with regard to alternative explanations of tmt. finally, suggestions for future research are offered.”
Simon, L., Greenberg, J., Harmon-Jones, E., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Arndt, J., & Abend, T.. (1997). Terror management and cognitive-experiential self-theory: Evidence that terror management occurs in the experiential system. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“The authors hypothesized, on the basis of terror management theory and cognitive-experiential self-theory, that participants in an experiential mode of thinking would respond to mortality salience with increased worldview defense and increased accessibility of death-related thoughts, whereas participants in a rational mode would not. results from 3 studies provided convergent evidence that when participants were in an experiential mode, mortality salience produced the typical worldview defense effect, but when participants were in a rational mode it did not. study 4 revealed that mortality salience also led to a delayed increase in the accessibility of death-related thoughts only when participants were in an experiential mode. these results supported the notion that worldwide defense is intensified only if individuals are in an experiential mode when considering their mortality. discussion focuses on implications for understanding terror management processes.”
Castano, E., Yzerbyt, V., Paladino, M. P., & Sacchi, S.. (2002). I belong, therefore, I exist: Ingroup identification, ingroup entitativity, and ingroup bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
“Merging insights from the intergroup relations literature and terror management theory, the authors conducted an experiment in which they assessed the impact of death-related thoughts on a series of ingroup measures. participants in the mortality salience condition displayed stronger ingroup identification, perceived greater ingroup entitativily, and scored higher on ingroup bias measures. also, perceived ingroup entitativily as well as ingroup identification mediated the effect of the mortality salience manipulation on ingroup bias. the findings are discussed in relation to theories of intergroup relations and terror management theory. a new perspective on the function of group belonging also is presented.”
Vail, K. E., Rothschild, Z. K., Weise, D. R., Solomon, S., Pyszczynski, T., & Greenberg, J.. (2010). A terror management analysis of the psychological functions of religion. Personality and Social Psychology Review
“From a terror management theory (tmt) perspective, religion serves to manage the potential terror engendered by the uniquely human awareness of death by affording a sense of psychological security and hope of immortality. although secular beliefs can also serve a terror management function, religious beliefs are particularly well suited to mitigate death anxiety because they are all encompassing, rely on concepts that are not easily disconfirmed, and promise literal immortality. research is reviewed demonstrating that mortality salience produces increased belief in afterlife, supernatural agency, human ascension from nature, and spiritual distinctions between mind and body. the social costs and benefits of religious beliefs are considered and compared to those of secular worldviews. the terror management functions of, and benefits and costs associated with, different types of religious orientation, such as intrinsic religiosity, quest, and religious fundamentalism, are then examined. finally, the tmt analysis is compared to other accounts of religion.”
Cohen, F., & Solomon, S.. (2011). The politics of mortal terror. Current Directions in Psychological Science
“Terror-management theory is used to examine how political preferences are altered when existential concerns are aroused. the theory posits that the uniquely human awareness of death engenders potentially debilitating terror that is managed through devotion to cultural worldviews that give individuals a sense that life has meaning and that they have value. research shows that mortality salience increases adherence to cherished cultural values and instigates efforts to bolster self-esteem. here we review research documenting the role of terror-management processes in promoting support for charismatic leaders who share one’s cherished beliefs and aggression against those who hold rival beliefs. implications for fostering effective participatory democracy are considered.”
Martens, A., Goldenberg, J. L., & Greenberg, J.. (2005). A terror management perspective on ageism. Journal of Social Issues
“In the present article, we present a theoretical perspective on ageism that is derived from terror management theory. according to the theory, human beings manage deeply-rooted fears about their vulnerability to death through symbolic constructions of meaning and corresponding standards of value. we extend this perspective to suggest that elderly individuals present an existential threat for the non-elderly because they remind us all that: (a) death is inescapable, (b) the body is fallible, and (c) the bases by which we may secure self-esteem (and manage death anxiety) are transitory. we review some recent empirical evidence in support of these ideas and then discuss possible avenues for combating ageism.”
Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Greenberg, J.. (2015). Thirty Years of Terror Management Theory: From Genesis to Revelation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
“Terror management theory posits that human awareness of the inevitability of death exerts a profound influence on diverse aspects of human thought, emotion, motivation, and behavior. people manage the potential for anxiety that results from this awareness by maintaining: (1) faith in the absolute validity of their cultural worldviews and (2) self-esteem by living up to the standards of value that are part of their worldviews. in this chapter, we take stock of the past 30 years of research and conceptual development inspired by this theory. after a brief review of evidence supporting the theory’s fundamental propositions, we discuss extensions of the theory to shed light on: (1) the psychological mechanisms through which thoughts of death affect subsequent thought and behavior; (2) how the anxiety-buffering systems develop over childhood and beyond; (3) how awareness of death influenced the evolution of mind, culture, morality, and religion; (4) how death concerns lead people to distance from their physical bodies and seek solace in concepts of mind and spirit; and (5) the role of death concerns in maladaptive and pathological behavior. we also consider various criticisms of the theory and alternative conceptualizations that have been proposed. we conclude with a discussion of what we view as the most pressing issues for further research and theory development that have been inspired by the theory’s first 30 years.”
Heine, S. J., Harihara, M., & Niiya, Y.. (2002). Terror management in Japan. Asian Journal of Social Psychology
“Do terror management effects generalize to non-western cultures? this question is significant because terror management theory offers an explanation of the origin of self-esteem, whereas other research finds divergent self-esteem motivations across cultures. the effects of mortality salience (ms) on the dual-component anxiety buffer were investigated in japan. a control group and a ms group were given an opportunity: (i) to defend their cultural worldview by derogating an anti-japan essay writer; and (ii) to boost their value within their cultures by indicating a greater desire for high-status over low-status products. replicating past research with western samples, japanese in a ms condition were more critical of the anti-japan essay writer and they indicated a marginal tendency to prefer high- over low-status products, compared with a control group. the theoretical implications are discussed.”
Jonas, E., Martens, A., Kayser, D. N., Fritsche, I., Sullivan, D., & Greenberg, J.. (2008). Focus Theory of Normative Conduct and Terror-Management Theory: The Interactive Impact of Mortality Salience and Norm Salience on Social Judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“Research on terror-management theory has shown that after mortality salience (ms) people attempt to live up to cultural values. but cultures often value very different and sometimes even contradictory standards, leading to difficulties in predicting behavior as a consequence of terror-management needs. the authors report 4 studies to demonstrate that the effect of ms on people’s social judgments depends on the salience of norms. in study 1, making salient opposite norms (prosocial vs. proself) led to reactions consistent with the activated norms following ms compared with the control condition. study 2 showed that, in combination with a pacifism prime, ms increased pacifistic attitudes. in study 3, making salient a conservatism/security prime led people to recommend harsher bonds for an illegal prostitute when they were reminded of death, whereas a benevolence prime counteracted this effect. in study 4 a help prime, combined with ms, increased people’s helpfulness. discussion focuses briefly on how these findings inform both terror-management theory and the focus theory of normative conduct.”
Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Arndt, J., & Schimel, J.. (2004). Why do people need self-esteem? A theoretical and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin
“Terror management theory (tmt; j. greenberg, t. pyszczynski, & s. solomon, 1986) posits that people are motivated to pursue positive self-evaluations because self-esteem provides a buffer against the omnipresent potential for anxiety engendered by the uniquely human awareness of mortality. empirical evidence relevant to the theory is reviewed showing that high levels of self-esteem reduce anxiety and anxiety-related defensive behavior, reminders of one’s mortality increase self-esteem striving and defense of self-esteem against threats in a variety of domains, high levels of self-esteem eliminate the effect of reminders of mortality on both self-esteem striving and the accessibility of death-related thoughts, and convincing people of the existence of an afterlife eliminates the effect of mortality salience on self-esteem striving. tmt is compared with other explanations for why people need self-esteem, and a critique of the most prominent of these, sociometer theory, is provided.”
Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T.. (1991). A Terror Management Theory of Social Behavior: The Psychological Functions of Self-Esteem and Cultural Worldviews. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
Greenberg, J., & Kosloff, S.. (2008). Terror Management Theory: Implications for Understanding Prejudice, Stereotyping, Intergroup Conflict, and Political Attitudes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass
“Terror management theory posits that to maintain psychological security despite the awareness of personal mortality, humans must maintain faith in cultural worldviews. these worldviews provide ways for humans to believe they are significant enduring beings in a world of meaning rather than mere animals fated only to obliteration upon death. we review basic support for terror management theory and research exploring the implications of terror management theory for understanding prejudice, stereo- typing, intergroup conflict, and political attitudes. this research shows that when the psychological need to defend these worldviews is heightened by reminders of death (mortality salience), prejudice, stereotyping, and support for charismatic leaders and aggression against outgroups is increased. terror management concerns also lead targets of prejudice to disidentify with their ingroup and confirm negative stereotypes of their group. we conclude by considering the implications of terror management theory and research for the alleviation of prejudice and intergroup conflict.”
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T., & Solomon, S.. (1986). The Causes and Consequences of a Need for Self-Esteem: A Terror Management Theory. In Public Self and Private Self
“Four selves, two motives, and a substitute process self-regulation model”
Landau, M. J., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Cohen, F., Pyszczynski, T., Arndt, J., … Cook, A.. (2004). Deliver us from evil: The effects of mortality salience and reminders of 9/11 on support for President George W. Bush. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
“According to terror management theory, heightened concerns about mortality should intensify the appeal of charismatic lead- ers. to assess this idea, we investigated how thoughts about death and the 9/11 terrorist attacks influence americans’ atti- tudes toward current u.s. president george w. bush. study 1 found that reminding people of their own mortality (mortality salience) increased support for bush and his counterterrorism policies. study 2 demonstrated that subliminal exposure to 9/ 11-related stimuli brought death-related thoughts closer to con- sciousness. study 3 showed that reminders of both mortality and 9/11 increased support for bush. in study 4, mortality salience led participants to become more favorable toward bush and vot- ing for him in the upcoming election but less favorable toward presidential candidate john kerry and voting for him. discus- sion focused on the role of terror management processes in allegiance to charismatic leaders and political decision making.”
Jonas, E., & Fischer, P.. (2006). Terror management and religion: Evidence that intrinsic religiousness mitigates worldview defense following mortality salience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“Terror management theory suggests that people cope with awareness of death by investing in some kind of literal or symbolic immortality. given the centrality of death transcendence beliefs in most religions, the authors hypothesized that religious beliefs play a protective role in managing terror of death. the authors report three studies suggesting that affirming intrinsic religiousness reduces both death-thought accessibility following mortality salience and the use of terror management defenses with regard to a secular belief system. study 1 showed that after a naturally occurring reminder of mortality, people who scored high on intrinsic religiousness did not react with worldview defense, whereas people low on intrinsic religiousness did. study 2 specified that intrinsic religious belief mitigated worldview defense only if participants had the opportunity to affirm their religious beliefs. study 3 illustrated that affirmation of religious belief decreased death-thought accessibility following mortality salience only for those participants who scored high on the intrinsic religiousness scale. taken as a whole, these results suggest that only those people who are intrinsically vested in their religion derive terror management benefits from religious beliefs.”
Cozzolino, P. J., Staples, A. D., Meyers, L. S., & Samboceti, J.. (2004). Greed, Death, and Values: From Terror Management to Transcendence Management Theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
“Research supporting terror management theory has shown that participants facing their death (via mortality salience) exhibit more greed than do control participants. the present research attempts to distinguish mortality salience from other forms of mortality awareness. specifically, the authors look to reports of near-death experiences and posttraumatic growth which reveal that many people who nearly die come to view seeking wealth and possession as empty and meaningless. guided by these reports, a manipulation called death reflection was generated. in study 1, highly extrinsic participants who experienced death reflection exhibited intrinsic behavior. in study 2, the manipulation was validated, and in study 3, death reflection and mortality salience manipulations were compared. results showed that mortality salience led highly extrinsic participants to manifest greed, whereas death reflection again generated intrinsic, unselfish behavior. the construct of value orientation is discussed along with the contrast between death reflection manipulation and mortality salience.”
Florian, V., & Mikulincer, M.. (1997). Fear of death and the judgment of social transgressions: A multidimensional test of terror management theory.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
“The purpose of the research was to integrate a multidimensional approach to fear of personal death with terror management theory. in study 1, 190 students were divided according to the manipulation of death salience and the intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects of fear of death and were asked to judge transgressions that have either intrapersonal or interpersonal consequences. study 2 was a conceptual replication of study 1, with the exception that the manipulation of mortality salience included conditions that made salient either intrapersonal or interpersonal aspects of death. findings indicate that the effects of mortality salience depend on the aspect of death that is made salient, the aspect of death that individuals most fear, and the type of the judged transgression. more severe judgments of transgressions after death salience manipulation were found mainly when there was a fit between these 3 factors. findings are discussed in light of terror management theory.”
Arndt, J., Solomon, S., Kasser, T., & Sheldon, K. M.. (2004). The urge to splurge: A terror management account of materialism and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology
“This article presents terror management theory (tmt) as a way to understand how the human awareness of death affects materialism, conspicuous consumption, and consumer decisions. the pursuit of wealth and culturally desired commodities are hypothesized to reinforce those beliefs that function to protect people from existential anxieties. following a brief overview of tmt and research, evidence is reviewed that explicates how intimations of mortality increase materialism as a way to enhance self-esteem and affects consumer decisions that support one’s cultural worldview. adverse consequences of materialistic and consumeristic worldviews are described and the challenges for future research to discover ways to alleviate them are considered.”
The propaganda model is a conceptual model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky to explain how propaganda and systemic biases function in corporate mass media. The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and how consent for economic, social, and political policies is “manufactured” in the public mind due to this propaganda. The theory posits that the way in which corporate media is structured (e.g. through advertising, concentration of media ownership, government sourcing) creates an inherent conflict of interest that acts as propaganda for undemocratic forces.
The book begins with the following quotation by John Milton:
They who have put out the people’s eyes, reproach them of their blindness.
~ John Milton
First presented in their 1988 book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, the propaganda model views private media as businesses interested in the sale of a product—readers and audiences—to other businesses (advertisers) rather than that of quality news to the public. Describing the media’s “societal purpose”, Chomsky writes, “… the study of institutions and how they function must be scrupulously ignored, apart from fringe elements or a relatively obscure scholarly literature”.[1] The theory postulates five general classes of “filters” that determine the type of news that is presented in news media. These five classes are: Ownership of the medium, Medium’s funding sources, Sourcing, Flak, and Anti-communism or “fear ideology”.
The first three are generally regarded by the authors as being the most important. In versions published after the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001, Chomsky and Herman updated the fifth prong to instead refer to the “War on Terror” and “counter-terrorism”, although they state that it operates in much the same manner.
Although the model was based mainly on the characterization of United States media, Chomsky and Herman believe the theory is equally applicable to any country that shares the basic economic structure and organizing principles that the model postulates as the cause of media biases.
Further References
Herman, E. S.. (2000). The Propaganda Model: a retrospective. Journalism Studies
“In manufacturing consent: the political economy of the mass media, noam chomsky and i put forward a ‘propaganda model’ as a framework for analysing and understanding how the mainstream u.s. media work and why they perform as they do (herman and chomsky 1988). we had long been impressed with the regularity with which the media operate on the basis of a set of ideological prem-ises, depend heavily and uncritically on elite information sources, and participate in propaganda campaigns helpful to elite interests. in trying to explain why they do this we looked to structural factors as the only possible root of the systematic patterns of behavior and performance. because the propaganda model challenges basic premises and suggests that the media serve antidemocratic ends, it is commonly excluded from mainstream de-bates on media bias. such debates typically include conservatives, who criticize the media for excessive liberalism and an adversarial stance toward government and business, and centrists and liberals, who deny the charge of adversarialism and contend that the media behave fairly and responsibly. the exclusion of the propaganda model perspective is noteworthy, for one reason, because that per-spective is consistent with long standing and widely held elite views that ‘the masses are notoriously short-sighted’ (bailey 1948: 13) and are ‘often poor judges of their own interests’ (lasswell 1933: 527), so that ‘our statesmen must deceive them’ (bailey 1948: 13); and they ‘can be managed only by a specialized class whose personal interests reach beyond the locality’ (walter lippmann 1921: 310). in lippmann’s view, the ‘manufacture of consent’ by an elite class had already be-come ‘a self-conscious art and a regular organ of popular government’ by the 1920s (lippman 1921: 248). clearly the manufacture of consent by a ‘specialized class’ that can override the short-sighted perspectives of the masses must entail media control by that class. political scientist thomas ferguson contends that the major media, ’controlled by large profit-maximizing investors do not encourage the dissemination of news and”
Herman, Edward S., & Chomsky, N.. (2002). A Propaganda Model. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of The Mass Media
“THIS book centers in what we call a ‘propaga:n’da model,’ an analytical framework that attempts to explain the performance of the u.s. media in terms of the basic institutional structures and relationships within which they operate. it is our view that, among their other functions, the media serve, and propagandize on behalf of, the powerful societal interests that control and finance them. the representatives of these interests have important agendas and principles that they want to advance, and they are well positioned to shape and constrain media policy. this is normally not accomplished by crude intervention, but by the selection of right-thinking personnel and by the editors’ and working journalists’ internalization of priorities and definitions of newsworthiness that conform to the institution’s policy.”
Chomsky, N.. (2002). An Exchange on Manufacturing Consent. I Can
“В данной работе представлены результаты экспериментального исследования возможности генерации собственных колебаний пограничного слоя путем сосредоточенного воздействия.”
Herman, E.. (1996). The Propaganda Model Revisited. Monthly Review
“The writer discusses the ‘propaganda model’ put forward by he and noam chomsky (1988) as a framework for analyzing and understanding how the mainstream american media work and why they perform as they do. he describes the model, addresses some of the criticisms that have been leveled against it, and discusses how it holds up almost a decade after its publication. in addition, he outlines some examples of how the model can help explain the nature of media coverage of important political topics in the 1990s. he points out that he and chomsky never claimed that the model explains everything or that it reveals media omnipotence and complete effectiveness in manufacturing consent. he states that it should be viewed as a model of media behavior and performance, not media effects. he suggests that the model remains a very workable framework for analyzing and understanding the mainstream media and that it often surpasses expectations of media subservience to government propaganda.”
Klaehn, J.. (2002). A critical review and assessment of Herman and Chomsky’s “propaganda model”. European Journal of Communication
“Mass media play an especially important role in democratic societies. they are presupposed to act as intermediary vehicles that reflect public opinion, respond to public concerns and make the electorate cognizant of state policies, important events and viewpoints. the fundamental principles of democracy depend upon the notion of a reasonably informed electorate. the ‘propaganda model’ of media operations laid out and applied by edward herman and noam chomsky in manufacturing consent: the political economy of the mass media postulates that elite media interlock with other institutional sectors in ownership, management and social circles, effectively circumscribing their ability to remain analytically detached from other dominant institutional sectors. the model argues that the net result of this is self-censorship without any significant coercion. media, according to this framework, do not have to be controlled nor does their behaviour have to be patterned, as it is assumed that they are integral actors in class warfare, fully integrated into the institutional framework of society, and act in unison with other ideological sectors, i.e. the academy, to establish, enforce, reinforce and ‘police’ corporate hegemony. it is not a surprise, then, given the interrelations of the state and corporate capitalism and the ‘ideological network’, that the propaganda model has been dismissed as a ‘conspiracy theory’ and condemned for its ‘overly deterministic’ view of media behaviour. it is generally excluded from scholarly debates on patterns of media behaviour. this article provides a critical assessment and review of herman and chomsky’s propaganda model and seeks to encourage scholarly debate regarding the relationship between corporate power and ideology. highly descriptive in nature, the article is concerned with the question of whether media can be seen to play a hegemonic role in society oriented towards legitimization, political accommodation and ideological management.”
Herman, E.. (2000). The Propaganda Model. Journalism Studies
“First presented in their 1988 book manufacturing consent: the political economy of the mass media, the propaganda model views private media as businesses interested in the sale of a product—readers and audiences—to other businesses (advertisers) rather than that of quality news to the public. describing the media’s ‘societal purpose’, chomsky writes, ‘… the study of institutions and how they function must be scrupulously ignored, apart from fringe elements or a relatively obscure scholarly literature’.[1] the theory postulates five general classes of ‘filters’ that determine the type of news that is presented in news media. these five classes are: ownership of the medium, medium’s funding sources, sourcing, flak, anti- communism and fear ideology. the first three are generally regarded by the authors as being the most important. in versions published after the 9/11 attacks on the united states in 2001, chomsky and herman updated the fifth prong to instead refer to the ‘war on terror’ and ‘counter-terrorism’, although they state that it operates in much the same manner. although the model was based mainly on the characterization of united states media, chomsky and herman believe the theory is equally applicable to any country that shares the basic economic structure and organizing principles which the model postulates as the cause of media biases.[2] contents”
Fleming, P., & Oswick, C.. (2014). Educating consent? A conversation with Noam Chomsky on the university and business school education. Organization
“In what follows, we present a conversation with professor noam chomsky on the topic of whether the business school might be a site for progressive political change. the conversation covers a number of key issues related to pedagogy, corporate social responsibility and working conditions in the contemporary business school. we hope the conversion will contribute to the ongoing discussion about the role of the business school in neoliberal societies.”
Entman, R. M.. (1990). News as propaganda. Journal of Communication
“The article reviews the book ‘manufacturing consent: the political economy of the mass media,’ by edward s. herman and noam chomsky.”
Klaehn, J.. (2002). Corporate hegemony: A Critical Assessment of the Globe and Mail’s News Coverage of Near-Genocide in Occupied East Timor 1975–80. Gazette
“The study asks whether the news coverage accorded the near-genocide in east timor by the globe and mail (g&m) followed the predictions of the ‘propaganda model’ (pm) of media operations laid out and applied by edward s. herman and noam chomsky in manufacturing consent: the political economy of the mass media. the research asks whether the g&m’s news coverage of the near-genocide in east timor and of canada’s ‘aiding and abetting’ of ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ in occupied east timor was hegemonic or ideologically serviceable given canada’s (geo)political-economic interests in indonesia throughout the invasion and occupation periods. did the news coverage provide a political and historical benchmark by which to inform the canadian public (or not) and influence (or not) canadian government policy on indonesia and east timor?”
